VCV Rack plugins take one of three licensing paths: GPLv3+, free-of-charge under any license, or commercial royalty

VCV Rack’s plugin licensing has three paths: (1) GPLv3+ — the recommended open-source, copyleft path where derivatives must also be GPLv3+; (2) any-license freeware — a VCV Non-Commercial Plugin License Exception lets you release under BSD, MIT, CC0, closed-source freeware, or donationware, provided the plugin is offered free of charge; (3) commercial — you must email VCV for a royalty license before selling. A common misconception is that because VCV Rack is free/open-source software, every plugin must be free; in fact commercial paid plugins are explicitly supported through royalty licensing.

Examples

A free reverb released under MIT uses path 2. A company selling a paid compressor must take path 3 (email VCV for a royalty license) before listing it on the VCV Library.

Assessment

A developer wants to sell a plugin for $15 on the VCV Library. Which of the three license paths applies, and what is the first concrete step they must take?